Resource Assessment of Freshwater Lakes and Ponds in the Pleasant Bay ACEC

 

Estuaries are places where freshwater and marine resources converge.  The health of freshwater lakes and ponds in the ACEC is important because of their roles as groundwater filters and as critical habitat areas.  It is also fundamental to the health of the estuarine system of which they are a part.  Through a grant from the Community Foundation of Cape Cod, the Alliance is undertaking a resource assessment of freshwater ponds within the ACEC.  The assessment responds to two priority recommendations of the Pleasant Bay RMP:

 

q       To complete the inventorying of critical habitat areas in the Pleasant Bay study area, and to develop strategies to monitor their health; and 

 

q       To develop guidelines for permitting structures, particularly docks and piers, located on the shoreline of freshwater lakes and ponds.

 

There is relatively little information available concerning the current status of freshwater ponds within the Pleasant Bay ACEC.  These ponds are important as community freshwater resource areas, and links to the region’s groundwater supply.  They are also important because of their direct hydrologic connection to Pleasant Bay. 

 

The assessment, to be conducted by Horsley & Witten, Inc., will provide a “snapshot” profile that identifies and documents the presence and distribution of rare, endangered, indigenous and invasive species of plants and animals within one hundred feet of the water’s edge of the respective freshwater bodies, including submerged and emergent species.  Freshwater bodies to be evaluated by the assessment include:

 

Lover’s Lake, Chatham,

Stillwater Pond, Chatham,

Mill Pond, Chatham,

Minister’s Pond, Chatham,

Fox Pond, Chatham,

Sarah’s Pond, Orleans,

Crystal Lake, Orleans,

Pilgrim Lake, Orleans,

Little Quanset, Pond, Orleans,

Gould Pond, Orleans, and

Uncle Seth’s Pond, Orleans.

 

Information from the assessment will be used to develop guidelines for permitting docks and piers in freshwater ponds within the ACEC.